At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason. (A website by Trevor Grant Thomas designed to inform the world from a Christian conservative worldview, and to make new and better disciples of Jesus Christ.)
The ultimate question for us all: What shall I do with Jesus? (Matt. 27:22)

Saturday, June 5, 2010

If you pay attention to the sports world at all, you are
well aware of the recent “tragedy” that occurred in Major League Baseball (MLB).
In case you missed it, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out
away from pitching a perfect game. (A perfect game is when a pitcher (or
pitchers) wins a game, retiring all 27 batters faced.)

It would have been only the twenty-first perfect game in the
141 year history of MLB. That’s merely 20 perfect games in over 575,000 MLB games
played. That’s about .003% of all games played. By comparison, more people have
orbited the moon than have pitched a MLB perfect game. It is truly one of the
rarest of sports achievements.

Galarraga was one out away from his perfect game when a
ground ball to first resulted in a missed call by the first base umpire. The
perfect game was forever ruined. Moreover, it was a bad missed call. In the
words of MLB ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian, this was a call that umpires get right
100,000 out of 100,001 times. The replay of the incident was shown
over-and-over again on sports programs across the country.

Television news networks and newspapers across the country
reported the happening almost immediately. I was on my laptop at the time, and
both Fox News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had the story on their
websites as “breaking news.”

In other words, because of his missed call, umpire Jim Joyce
is now the most famous (or infamous) baseball umpire in the world. Pundits all
over the sports world used this moment to call for sweeping reform in MLB
umpiring—the use of instant replay. Some even called on baseball commissioner
Bud Selig to intervene and “undo” the travesty. They make good arguments, but
that is not the direction I would like to go here.

As stellar as Galarraga’s otherwise perfect game was, the
performance afterward by the principle characters involved teaches a lesson that
no perfect game would allow—one which I believe will leave each of them with a far
greater legacy than the perfect game would have.

Immediately after the blown call, Galarraga smiled, returned
to the pitcher’s mound, and went back to work. His manager Jim Leyland came out
to argue the call; it was quite heated. After the game, Leyland
was much more understanding. “The players are human, the umpires are human, the
managers are human,” Leyland said.

After the game, upon seeing the replay, Joyce took the
unusual step of quickly admitting his mistake. “It was the biggest call of my
career, and I kicked the s­--t out of it,” Joyce said. “I just cost that kid a
perfect game,” he added as he sullenly and humbly paced the umpires’ locker
room.

Moments later, Joyce went even farther and tearfully asked
the Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski if he could personally apologize to
Galarraga. Joyce then went face-to-face with Galarraga and told him he was
sorry and even added a hug. This act quickly diffused an otherwise bitter
Galarraga. Galarraga said, “You don't see an umpire after the game come out and
say, ‘Hey, let me tell you I'm sorry.’ He felt really bad. He didn't even
shower.”

The next day, Joyce was scheduled to work behind home plate—the
highest profile umpiring position. MLB gave Joyce the option of taking the day
off. Joyce refused. Prior to the game, wanting to diffuse any negative crowd
reaction to Joyce, Leyland sent Galarraga out
with the day’s lineup card.

Leyland stated, “This guy is an outstanding umpire. I just
really think it's a day for Tigers fans to really show what we are all about in
a positive way…The guy had every bit of integrity. He faced the music. He stood
there and took it. What else can he do? I just don't believe in beating people
up like that…This guy was a mess. My heart goes out to him.”

As the lineups
were exchanged, what boos were aimed at Joyce turned into cheers for Galarraga.
Joyce, again full of emotion, had tears in his eyes. Galarraga patted him on
the shoulder for support. When the game began, surrounded by his fellow umpires
for their support, as the Tigers took to the field, several of them passed by
Joyce and showed their support for him as well. For the most part, Tigers fans also
showed themselves forgiving. When the game was over, Joyce
said, “I don’t want to make it sappy and say it was love, but the support I
got was just love.”

Don’t get me wrong, given a chance to do it over, almost everyone
involved would rather see Joyce make the correct call and have Galarraga
“immortalized” into MLB history along with the 20 other perfect game pitchers. However,
we now have an incident that transcends sports. We have an example of grace and
forgiveness. We have a man owning up to his mistake and saying that he is
sorry. In other words, we have an outpouring of love that no “perfect game”
could ever have given us.

In God

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I was born in 1969 to Edsel and Carolyn Thomas and have lived all my life in Northeast Georgia. I've been a follower of Jesus since 1986. I am originally from White County, where I graduated from high school and lived for the first twenty-plus years of my life. (Most of my family and my wife’s family live in White County.) Michelle and I married on January 31, 1998. We have 4 beautiful children (three boys and one girl): Caleb, born 2002; Jesse, born 2004; Caroline born 2006; and Noah born in 2008. We currently reside in the North Hall area. I have a BS degree in physics from the University of North Georgia, an MEd in mathematics education from the University of North Georgia, and an EdS in mathematics education from the University of Georgia. I've been teaching high school mathematics (public and private) since 1993. In 2013 my wife and I published Debt-Free Living in a Debt-Filled World. In 2016 I published The Miracle and Magnificence of America. I have been writing opinion columns since 2001. I have been blogging (though not with my own blog) since 2007. My hobbies include anything that allows me to spend time with my family, and includes action movies, swimming, hunting, fishing, gardening, and maintaining my lawn. I also enjoy most sports that involve a ball, and try (somewhat) hard to not cuss while watching the Georgia Bulldogs, the Atlanta Falcons, Braves, and Hawks, and the Dallas Cowboys.